The clown finishes.

He draws lukewarm applause. He turns to moon the audience. On his butt and in larger letters on his shirt are the NRA logo.

A shot rings out. He falls. People in the audience scream, run for exists. Pandemonium.

****

Take Two

The clown says “If everyone has a gun, we can protect ourselves in case some nut job shows up and tries to scare or hurt someone. Ushers are coming around now to sell you these little best friends. Only $100. Credit cards accepted too. Semi-automatic macho machines for the real patriots among us cost extra. Our ushers have as many rounds of ammo as you could want. Some motorcycle guys bought five machine guns. Someone buys a sixth machine.

He finishes. He draws warm applause. He bows to the audience.

A shot rings out. He falls. People in the audience scream, before running for exists, members of the audience open fire. Dozens are killed. Guards rush in and shoot. Pandemonium seems to have ended when all but one guy in the audience is still standing. He picks up the bucket of $100 bills, walks it over to the body of the clown who of course was not really shot. The clown thanks the guy with the semi. Then when the guy turns to walk away, the clown takes out a pistol he had concealed and shoots the big guy in the back. Then he takes out a toy gun. He pops it. Out comes a little flag, saying “Guns don’t kill people, people do.”

He chuckles then walks off.